Pavilion Theatre frustrated over lack of council contact since Sauchiehall Street fire

The owners of Glasgow's Pavilion Theatre say they're growing increasingly frustrated at the 'little or no contact' from Glasgow City Council - nearly a month on from a massive fire which almost reached the iconic venue.

The fire tore through buildings on the main thoroughfare - including Victoria's Nightclub, Lauders' pub and other outlets - but firefighters managed to contain the blaze and stop it spreading.

However, the Pavilion was left badly damaged due to smoke and soot and announced it would be temporarily closing due to the major repair work needed. Up to 20 shows have been cancelled or rescheduled.

In a statement released on Friday - four weeks on from the fire - the Theatre's owners said: "We now turn to ‘the other side’ that are becoming more and more frustrating with little or no updates from the Council powers that be.

"Raymond Barlow, Assistant Head of Building and Planning for Glasgow City Council, is to be honest little or no help continually refusing simple requests. Not just to us, but we would think that all affected businesses are in the same position.

"Glasgow City Council may have a policy to let its own unoccupied buildings deteriorate, which is well documented, but we are not going to allow the Pavilion to get into a state of disrepair."

The statement continues: "Where are our Councillors? Where is the leader of the Council? They are all great at going on various news programmes with the usual political sound bites saying they are helping everyone. We have personally have heard very little from any of them."

"We can state for the record that we have heard nothing from Lord Provost Eva Bolander or from the Leader of the Council Susan Aitken and as for the other 3 local councillors for the area, we have a single email of communication from Councillor Ballie Mearns, Philip Braat and Kenny McLean but these were not constructive and were just an acknowledgment of emails sent to them."

The Theatre's owners also called into question the safety of the ongoing demolition work at the building next to the historic venue.

"What do we do next? The answer is that we need to wait until Raymond Barlow decides it is safe to get in to the theatre as it seems that he is the only person within the council that can do or say anything, but we feel that it is now time to question the legality of continually denying us access.

"He deems the theatre and the exclusion zone around the theatre to be unsafe under the Dangerous Building Act but has portable toilets and porta cabins outside our front doors in Renfield Street.

"They also have demolition workers private cars parked right up against our building in Renfrew Street, they have workers in the area with no protective clothing, no hard hats, no his viz vests or no protective footwear. These maybe sounds a bit trivial but either the theatre is unsafe or not and given simple health and safety legislation and common sense, why allow workers to park cars or use the toilet in an unsafe area?"

In a response sent to Radio Clyde News, a spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: "“We have a duty to protect public safety.

“The bottom line is that the theatre stands a few feet away from a building that has been gutted by fire and is on the verge of collapse.

“This is an extremely difficult demolition that will take a significant amount of time. Expert contractors are currently taking down parts of the structure brick-by-brick – and it will not be lost on people that one of the reasons for this painstaking approach is to protect surrounding buildings, including the theatre.

“Given that challenge, it is simply not possible to say with any certainty when it will be safe to enter. As soon as it is, we will share that information to those involved."